Arpita Basu, PhD

Associate Professor Arpita Basu joined the Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas during fall 2017 and teaches complementary and integrative medical nutrition therapy, nutrition therapy and pathophysiology of chronic diseases, and other courses within the undergraduate and graduate programs. Dr. Basu’s research focuses on understanding the health effects of dietary bioactive compounds, such as those found in tea, strawberries, and cocoa in modulating disease biomarkers in type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and related cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Basu's research has identified several health benefits of strawberries including its effects in lowering blood lipids and improving antioxidant status, anti-inflammatory and arthritic pain relieving effects in obese adults.

Penny Kris-Etherton PhD RDN FAHA FNLA FASN CLS

Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton is Distinguished Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research expertise is cardiovascular nutrition.She conducts controlled clinical nutrition studies designed to evaluate the effects of nutrients, bioactives and dietary patterns on risk factors for cardiovascular disease. She is Vice-Chair of the AHA Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health, and Past Chair of the AHA Nutrition Committee.  Dr. Kris-Etherton is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, the National Lipid Association (where she served as President), and the American Society for Nutrition.  She has published over 350 papers in the peer-reviewed literature, and has received numerous awards from the American Society for Nutrition, the American Oil Chemist’s Society, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the International Nut & Dried Fruit Council, and the Northeast Lipid Association Chapter for her contributions to the profession.

Barbara Shukkit-Hale, PhD

Dr. Barbara Shukitt-Hale is the USDA Lead Scientist in the Laboratory of Neuroscience and Aging, USDA-ARS, Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University in Boston, MA. She received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Boston University in 1993. Dr. Shukitt-Hale has been involved in research for 35 years. Her current work involves determining the factors responsible for age-related behavioral and neurochemical changes and possible amelioration of these effects with various nutritional treatments such as strawberries. She has published more than 200 articles and selected papers.

Carl Keen, PhD

Dr. Keen has been a member of the nutrition faculty at the University of California, Davis since 1981. He was the Chairman of the Department of Nutrition from 1993 to 2006. He is a member of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences (ASNS), the American Society of Clinical Nutrition (ASCN), the Teratology Society, the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (SEBM), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Keen has over 600 peer reviewed scientific publications. For the past two decades his group’s work has been centered on the study of dietary factors from foods such as cocoa, nuts and strawberries that influence the risk for vascular disease. A current hypothesis in the laboratory is that a significant part of the positive cardiovascular health benefits associated with plant food rich diets can be attributed to their flavanol content.

Roberta R Holt, PhD

Dr. Holt is a Staff Research Associate in the Department of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Holt’s current research interests include the relationship between the intake of specific foods, to include strawberries, and the phytochemicals contained within them, on metabolism-induced changes in cardiovascular physiology; with the end goal an improved understanding on the association between diet and reduced chronic disease risk.

Robert Krikorian, PhD

Robert Krikorian is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience and Director of the Cognitive Aging Program at the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center. His clinical and research interests include the influence of health conditions on memory decline and risk for Alzheimer’s disease and nutritional interventions to forestall progression of neurodegeneration. His current research involves investigations of the effects of berry fruits, in particular strawberry supplementation, on neurocognitive function in middle-aged individuals with increased risk for late-life dementia as well as investigations of the benefits of ketone metabolism. Funding for his research has come from the National Institutes of Health and from foundation and industry sources.

Ann Skulas-Ray, PhD

Dr. Skulas-Ray is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on identifying and refining nutritional strategies for reducing chronic inflammation and cardiovascular disease risk. She specializes in clinical studies of bioactives from health-promoting foods—such as strawberries—that investigate effects on lipids/lipoproteins, inflammation, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, brachial and central blood pressure, indices of arterial stiffness, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. She has 28 publications in the areas of inflammation, nutrition, and cardiovascular research, including 4 book chapters and 2 encyclopedia entries.

Chesney Richter, PhD

Dr. Richter is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Arizona. Dr. Richter’s current research focuses on clinical intervention studies of omega-3 fatty acids and plant-based bioactives, such as those from strawberries. This research aims to investigate the potential health effects of these dietary interventions for reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors such as inflammation, blood pressure, and lipids/lipoproteins

Zhaoping Li, PhD MD

Zhaoping Li, MD, PhD is the Director of the Center for Human Nutrition, Chief of the Division of Clinical Nutrition and Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Chair in Human Nutrition at David Geffen School of Medicine at the UCLA. Dr. Li is leading the Center for Human Nutrition to have vigorous research programs in nutrition, microbiome and metabolism; providing mentorship, didactic and informal training for young scientists, premed, medical students, medical residents, fellows and clinicians; directing clinical programs that specializes in metabolic diseases, bariatric medicine, gastrointestinal diseases and cancer prevention/treatment. (www.clinicalnutrition.ucla.edu)
For nearly three decades, Dr Li’s research interest has focused on translational research in the role of macronutrients, phytochemicals in the prevention and treatment of obesity related chronic diseases. She has been Principal Investigator for over 50 investigator-initiated NIH and industry- sponsored clinical trials and published over 150 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and Journal of American Dietetic Association. She co-authored the book “Primary Care Nutrition: Writing the Nutrition Prescription” that provides the necessary knowledge and tools to incorporate nutrition into primary care practice